Okutar
Timeline Okutar: Founded ~100 years after the conclusion of the Planar Wars > 47 BA - 68 FA Expansion of Okuettad, Colonization of Quistra River > 68 FA - 76 FA Unification Period > 76 FA - 154 FA First Expansion Period > 154 FA - 187 FA First Goblin Invasion > 187 FA - 277 FA Okutar's Golden Age > 277 FA - 299 FA Liricaracan Conflict, Fiefholder Rebellion > 299 FA - 406 FA Sotaeno Trade Dispute, Piracy Crusades > 406 FA - 523 FA Second Goblin Invasion > 523 FA - 564 FA Rebuilding Years > 564 FA - 604 FA Union of Crowns, Disemthran Crisis, Second Trade Wars Okutar lies south of the Veiled Peaks, spreading south to the Eralene Ocean and bounded on the west by the high elf Free City of Liricaraca and the east by the Moonspur Mountains and the wood elf enclave of Yicelafo. It borders Anathonia on Aelwyn's Saddle, a broad pass between the Moonspur Mountains and the Veiled Peaks which connects the two countries. Much of Okutar is covered by Alethave, a largely untamed coniferous forest which is a prime source of timber and mischief. While the largest demographic in Okutar is human by a fair margin, it has many large minority groups within its borders. The southernmost city of Sushsatheno was a Dragonborn colony from the Sathkarian Empire before it voluntarily joined the kingdom of Okutar, swearing fealty to the king in 76 FA, and the city itself retains a significant Dragonborn majority, with all noble titles remaining in Dragonborn hands up until the Anathonian conquest of 568 FA. Halflings in Okutar live semi-itinerant lives poling rafts and barges from the coast up the Quistra River to a tributary called Jeong's Whip, and from there to Jeong's Mirror, a large freshwater lake in Aelwyn's Saddle. A sprawling town comprised of boats and piers as much as permanent constructions squats on the western edge of the lake, where trade is conducted with Anathonians from the east and cargos swapped before the long drift back down to the sea begins again. Several Gnome villages lie hidden in the Alethave forest, largeley isolated from outsiders by a combination of cunning illusions and careful watchmen. Some elves make Okutar their permanent residence, though most elves found there are on business from Liricaraca or Yicelafo. Tieflings are as uncommon in Okutar as they are in the rest of the world, though some do live in the larger cities on the coast. Dwarves are the rarest, as those few who live away from the mountainhome are drawn towards more orderly lands such as Anathonia or the Sathkarian Empire, though dwarven traders are not an uncommon sight at Disemthran. Okushin are quite varied, with many different cultures and ethnicities living within the kingdom's borders. Generally, Okushin value liberty and independence, as well as the strength to assert those rights. Coastal Okushin respect craftsmanship and the art of negotiation, as much of their way of life revolves around trade, but Okushin who live inland are mistrustful of strangers (especially those who dwell in the forest.) Okushin do not have one predominant deity, and shrines and temples to each of the Four Greater and Five Lesser gods can be found across the country. In general, the moon cult of Aelwyn Unfettered is common in the hinterland despite attempts by the Anathonian authorities to stamp it out, though Ansel the Root and Leda Earthmother are both common, socially acceptable objects of worship. Along the coast worship of Goran the Rod returns to the forefront due to long Anathonian influence, but Madlenka the Builder, Jeong Featherfoot, and even Cruel Nariko Redhand and Hakan Blackfist have enough worship to support modest temples and clergy. Okushin humans come from a more robust stock than Anathonians, stout in build with dark hair and eyes, and a skin tone that ranges from pale as a Anathonian to dark as a drow. They are round of face with flat, wider noses and mouths than Anathonians, and distinctive almond shaped eyes. Okutaran halflings are Lightfoots, and while similar in complexion to their Anathonian cousins they are noticably leaner of build and shiftier in appearence, with pointier chins and noses. Gnomes are of the forest gnome subrace, and not only have both darker hair and eyes than their Anathonian brethren, but have harsh, pronounced cheekbones and a sharp jawline. Though the Dragonborn of Sushsatheno have the full range of colors found in the Sathkarian Empire, a disproportionate number of them develop as blue, bronze, or gold dragons. Settlement Period Okutar was founded 47 BA, when Queen Enid Cingshu the White became ruler of Okuettad, then a small town swollen with refugees of the Planar Wars. The Kingdom spread northward, up the river Quistra and into the Watchful Wood, in those days full of dangerous extraplanar monsters and splinter groups of refugees, outcasts, and recluses. The Quistra region of Okutar would remain only nominally under the control of the throne of Okutar for many years to come, as the ability of the Cingshu dynasty to defend or tax anything not on the river itself was quite limited, and many who settled in the Watchful Wood quietly asserted independence from Okutar in all but name. Cordial relations would be established with the elves of Yicelafo as well as the villages of the gnomes, but this friendship would not be tested for many years. Unification Period This state of affairs would persist until 68 FA when senators from Sotaeno, the dragonborn Prince Farouk Abakonli of Sushsatheno, and King Urian Cingshu the Wise met to discuss common defense against the rising powers in the East, the dark forces mustering in the Veiled Peaks and the wastes to the north, and the piracy of the Free Cities of the West whose raids were becoming more frequent as they formed a loose confederation of their own. Though the representatives of Sushsatheno, Okutar, and Sotaeno were quite different in culture, religion, and economic interests, King Urian was able to impress them with his wisdom and natural charisma, portraying their differences as complementary and illuminating the benefits of cooperation. Negotiations would continue until 76 FA as the arrangement between the citystates progressed from being a strong trade union, to a defensive alliance, to a political union as a constitutional monarcy under the rein of King Urian. This arrangement was not met with happiness inland, however, as the gnome villages refused to recognize the expanded territorial claims of Sotaeno in the west of the Watchful Wood, and the elves of Yicelafo refused overtures to join the nascent kingdom. First Goblin Invasion In 154 the first major conflict of the Okutar kingdom came as a mass migration of Goblins entered northern Okutar, displaced by new dwarven expansion in the Veiled Peaks. They came violently, attacking halfling communities who sailed the river as well as the independent gnome villages who were fiercly embattled by surrounding goblin warbands. Queen Nerys the Seer responded to this incursion with force, leading her army up the Quistra to protect the human and halfling communities alongside it. The fighting was fierce, with the number of goblins seeming inexhaustible, and the Okushin were forced to embark on a gradual campaign of incremental expansion and consolidation, building fortresses and castles in the heartland of Okutar over the next thirty years. The Okushin were joined in this endeavor by the gnomes, who had suffered greatly at the hands of the goblins, as well as the elves of Yicelafo, who considered the expulsion of the vile goblins from their forests a matter of necessity. In this way Okutar's borders spread to their greatest extent, up into the foothills of the Veiled Peaks and across Aelwyn's Saddle to the borders of Anathonia. In 187 FA the halflings of Disemthran would make a joint declaration of alliance and friendsip with the crown of Okutar, effectively becoming a vassal of the Cingshu dynasty and expanding the influence of Okutar all the way to the Anathonian border. Though the goblins never had an organized government to surrender, and goblin raids would continue for hundreds of years therafter, 187 is commonly defined by historians as the end of the First Goblin Invasion. Okutar's Golden Age Thus began the Golden Age of Okutar, as trade along the Eralene Ocean and inland to the dwarves of the Veiled Peaks and Moonspur Mountains proved quite lucrative for the kingdom, and Okuettad grew to become the greatest city of them all from its humble roots as a seaside town, surpassing even Sotaeno in grandeur under the rulership of Queen Gwyneth the Pure. This economic dominance fueled a surge of patronage of the arts, and a flourishing of literature, art, and song. However, these cultural and economic gains were primarily focused along the coast, widening the divide between the large coastal population and the settlements of the interior, who lived largly as they had since the formation of the kingdom. Liricaracan Conflict Tensions would rise in 277 between the Kingdom of Okutar and the free city of Liricaraca to the west. The elves of Liricaraca had long claimed the plains between themselves and Sotaeno, but they were never settled, and neither fortifications nor watchtowers were ever built there. Settlers from Sotaeno had been spreading into these unoccupied lands for many years, as there was little free land within the borders of Okutar and there was good soil to be found. However, the presence of these settlers attracted pirate raids, and elven reprisals did not discriminate between piratical ravager and Okushin settler. Violence erupted between the settlers and the elves, and the settlers called on their kinsmen in Sotaeno for help, who in turn pressured the throne of Okutar to protect them. An army led by King Howell the Elder made its way into the contested land and began building basic fortifications, leading to a standoff when a Liricaracan force moved to oppose them and assert elven claims to the land. After minor raids by both sides, a peace was negotiated where the Kingdom of Okutar's borders extended westward to halfway between Sotaeno and Liricaraca, where a large wall was constructed to block further westward expansion. Fiefholder Rebellion The land already occupied by settlers was paid for in gold, resulting in new taxes that were quite unpopular with the vassals of the Okushin throne, who historically had paid very little in taxes, and always before in exchange for new privileges, titles, or gifts of the crown. While the tax was accepted by Sotaeno, Okuettad, and their surrounding counties, Sushsatheno and the dukes of Asihonu and Aelwyn's Saddle rejected the authority of the crown to levy such a tax, and refused to pay. In response, in 280 FA King Howell raised his banner against the rebellious dukes, besieging Sushsatheno and blockading the city by sea. The siege was largely ineffective, however, as several prominent wizard's colleges found it in their best interests to support the rebels, and so were able to provide resupply by magical means sufficient to sustain the defenders. The siege dragged on for years, and with the main royal force preoccupied on the coast many counties and communities inland openly joined the rebellion, occupying fortifications and castles left over from the First Goblin Invasion Category:Regions